Carl Schlechter (2 March 1874 – 27 December 1918) was a leading

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1 ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

master and theoretician at the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for

drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayo ...

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 matc ...

match with

Emanuel Lasker Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Cham ...

Early life

Schlechter was born into a Catholic family in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He is sometimes deemed to be Jewish, although others dispute this. He began playing chess at the age of 13. His first and only teacher was an Austria-Hungarian chess problemist, Dr. Samuel Gold. From 1893 onwards he played in over 50 international chess tournaments. He won or shared first at

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

1900 (the 12th

DSB Congress The ''Deutscher Schachbund'' (DSB) was founded in Leipzig on 18 July, 1877. When the next meeting took place in the Schützenhaus on 15 July 1879, sixty-two clubs had become member of the chess federation. Hofrat Rudolf von Gottschall became Chairm ...

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1904 (the 14th DSB Congress),

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

1906,

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

1906, Vienna 1908, Prague 1908, Hamburg 1910 (the 17th DSB Congress), and thrice in the Trebitsch Memorial in Vienna (1911, 1912, 1913). 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 Siegbert Tarrasch (; 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 Bresla ...

(+3 −3 =10) in 1911.

Lasker–Schlechter match

In 1910 Schlechter played a match against

for the

(in Vienna and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

). Schlechter was leading by one point going into the tenth and final game of the match. In the tenth game tragedy struck: after first achieving a won game, Schlechter blundered into a clearly drawn position, and then blundered again which led to his loss of the game. The match ended tied at 5–5 (+1 −1 =8) and Lasker retained his title. It is disputed as to whether Schlechter needed to score +2 to win the match and thus needed to win the tenth game. No contract for the match has ever been found and no evidence supporting this rumor has ever been produced. (For match details see World Chess Championship 1910.) Schlechter distinguished himself as the first player in 16 years to seriously challenge Lasker's world title.

Later life

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he thrice won Trebitsch Memorial in Vienna. In the last year of his life, he took third in Vienna, lost a match to

Akiba Rubinstein Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein (1 December 1880 – 14 March 1961) was a Polish chess player. He is considered to have been one of the greatest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Rubinstein was granted the title International Grandma ...

(+1 −2 =3), took second place in Berlin (''Quadrangular'', Milan Vidmar won), tied for third place in Kaschau, and took third place in Berlin (''Quadrangular'',

won). Schlechter died of pneumonia and starvation on 27 December 1918, and was buried in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

on 31 December 1918.

Assessment

The Carl Schlechter–

Arthur Kaufmann Arthur Kaufmann (4 April 1872 in Iași, Romania – 25 July 1938 in Vienna) was an Austrian attorney, philosopher and chess master. Life Kaufmann was the second son of a wealthy, Jewish merchant family in Iaşi, Romania. In early childhood, he m ...

– Hugo Fähndrich trio propagated the Viennese chess school, founded by Max Weiss in the 19th century. Schlechter prepared the eighth and final edition of the famous '' Handbuch des Schachspiels'' openings

treatise A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions." Tre ...

. Published in eleven parts between 1912 and 1916, it totaled 1,040 pages and included contributions by

Rudolf Spielmann Rudolf Spielmann (5 May 1883 – 20 August 1942) was a Jewish-Austrian chess player of the romantic school, and chess writer. Career Spielmann was born in 1883, third child of Moritz and Cecilia Spielmann, and had a younger brother Edgar, an ol ...

, and Richard Teichmann.

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

William Hartston William Roland Hartston (born 12 August 1947) is an English journalist who wrote the Beachcomber column in the ''Daily Express''. He is also a chess player who played competitively from 1962 to 1987 and earned a highest Elo rating of 2485. He ...

called it "a superb work, perhaps the last to encase successfully the whole of chess knowledge within a single volume." He was a typical example of a gentleman chess player of old, offering courteous draws to opponents who felt unwell. If his opponent arrived late for a game, Schlechter would inconspicuously subtract an equal amount of time from his own clock. He also mentored many of his rivals, including Oldřich Duras.

List of opening variations named after Schlechter

There are several "Schlechter Variations" in the

chess opening A chess opening or simply an opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established theory; the other phases are the middlegame and the endgame. Many opening sequences have standard names such as the "Sicilian Defen ...

s: *Schlechter Gambit of the

Bird's Opening Bird's Opening (or the Dutch Attack) is a chess opening characterised by the move: :1. f4 Bird's is a standard flank opening. White's strategic ideas involve control of the e5-square, offering good attacking chances at the expense of slightly ...

1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 Nc6 *Schlechter Variation of the

French Defence The French Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e6 This is most commonly followed by 2.d4 d5, with Black intending ...c5 soon after, attacking White's and gaining on the . The French has a reputation for solidity ...

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Bd3 *Schlechter Variation of the

Slav Defence The Slav Defense is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 c6 The Slav is one of the primary defenses to the Queen's Gambit. Although it was analyzed as early as 1590, it was not until the 1920s that it started to be e ...

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 The Danish Gambit, known as the ' in German and the ' in Dutch (both meaning Nordic Gambit), is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. d4 exd4 :3. c3 White will sacrifice one or two pawns for the sake of rapid and the att ...

1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5.Bxb2 d5

Notable games

Fried–Schlechter, Vienna 1894, From's Gambit (A02), 0–1
A breezy 14-move win by Schlechter, who sacrifices his queen and mates his opponent's king in the middle of the board.
Bernhard Fleissig–Schlechter, Vienna 1893 (friendly), Polish Opening: General (A00), 0–1
One of Schlechter's most famous games, Black sacrifices both his rooks and bishops.
Schlechter–Steinitz, Cologne 1898 Vienna Game (C28), 1–0
Schlechter routs the former World Champion in 24 moves.
Schlechter–Meitner, Vienna 1899, Italian Game: Classical Variation. Greco Gambit Moeller–Therkatz Attack (C54), 1–0
A combination in the endgame: White sacrifices his queen then makes a quiet move with his king, and Black is unable to prevent a mate in two moves.

In popular culture

The central character of the 1998 novel '' Carl Haffner's Love of the Draw'' by

Thomas Glavinic Thomas Glavinic (born 2 April 1972 in Graz) is an Austrian writer. With Kathrin Röggla and Daniel Kehlmann, he is among other contemporary Austrian authors being perceived as significantly shaping the literary discussion in Austria. Life The ...

is closely based on Schlechter. The book presents a fictionalised account of his 1910 World Chess Championship match with Lasker.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schlechter, Carl 1874 births 1918 deaths Austrian chess players Chess theoreticians 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century chess players Game players from Vienna Tuberculosis deaths in Hungary Deaths from pneumonia in Hungary Deaths by starvation