---- Ernst Franz Grünfeld (November 21, 1893 – April 3, 1962) was an Austrian

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 disti ...

player and writer, mainly on

opening Opening may refer to: * Al-Fatiha, "The Opening", the first chapter of the Qur'an * The Opening (album), live album by Mal Waldron * Backgammon opening * Chess opening * A title sequence or opening credits * , a term from contract bridge * , ...

theory A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be s ...

. He was among the inaugural recipients of the grandmaster title in 1950.

Life and career

Grünfeld was born in

Josefstadt Josefstadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Josefstod'') is the eighth district of Vienna (german: 8. Bezirk, Josefstadt). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Josefstadt is a heavily po ...

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 lost a leg in his early childhood, which was beset by poverty. However, he discovered chess, studied intensely, and quickly earned a reputation as a skilled player at the local chess club, the Wiener Schach-Klub. The First World War (1914–1918) seriously affected Grünfeld's chances of playing the best in the world as few tournaments were played during this troubled period. He was reduced to playing correspondence matches and spent much of his spare time studying opening variations. He started a library of chess material which he kept in his small Viennese flat until his death at the age of 68 in 1962. He developed a reputation as an expert on openings during the 1920s and success over the board soon followed. He was 1st in Vienna (1920) with

Savielly Tartakower Savielly Tartakower (also known as ''Xavier'' or ''Ksawery'' ''Tartakower'', less often ''Tartacover'' or ''Tartakover''; 21 February 1887 – 4 February 1956) was a Polish and French chess player. He was awarded the title of International Grand ...

; 1st in

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

(1923); 1st in

Meran Merano (, , ) or Meran () is a city and ''comune'' in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeier ...

(1924); 1st 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 ...

(1926) with

Mario Monticelli Mario Monticelli (16 March 1902, Venice – 30 June 1995, Milan) was an Italian chess player. He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1950 and the Grandmaster title honoris causa (GME) in 1985. In 1922, he won in Rome (ITA-ch Uni ...

; 1st in Vienna (1927) and he shared first spot in the Vienna tournaments of 1928 and 1933 ( Trebitsch Memorial)—the former with Sándor Takács and the latter with Hans Müller; and finally he was 1st in the tournament at

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

of 1933. He also won in the 23rd

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 Chair ...

at Frankfurt 1923. During the Bad Pistyan (Piešťany) tournament of April 1922 Grünfeld introduced his most important contribution to opening theory—the

Grünfeld Defence The Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 g6 :3. Nc3 d5 Black offers White the possibility of 4.cxd5, which may be followed by 4...Nxd5 and 5.e4, giving White an imposing central pawn duo. If Whi ...

. He played the defence against

Friedrich Sämisch Friedrich Sämisch (20 September 1896 – 16 August 1975) was a German chess player and chess theorist. He was among the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Background Sämisch was a bookbinder ...

in round 7,

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, crayons, ...

in 22 moves, and later that year he used it successfully against

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine, ''Aleksándr Aleksándrovich Alékhin''; (March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns. By the age of 22, Alekhine was already a ...

in the Vienna tournament. However, he did not play the opening frequently. During the late 1920s and 1930s Grünfeld played top board for Austria in four

Chess Olympiads The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

(1927, 1931, 1933, 1935), and his best year was in 1927 when he scored 9½/12. According to the

Chessmetrics Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system. Implementation Chessmetrics is a weighted average of past performance. The score considers a player's win percen ...

website he would have been rated around 2715 at his peak (December 1924). In May 1943, he took 2nd, behind

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...

, in Posen, and won in December 1943 in Vienna. After the Second World War, he tied for 3rd-4th at Vienna 1951 (

Schlechter Memorial Carl Schlechter Memorial Tournament (''Carl-Schlechter-Gedenkturnier'') is an irregularly scheduled chess competition initiated to honor the memory of leading Austrian chess master Carl Schlechter (1874–1918), who died as a result of privation ...

Moshe Czerniak Moshe Czerniak (born Moizes Czerniak, also knowns as Miguel Czerniak; he, משה צ'רניאק; 3 February 1910 – 31 August 1984) was a Polish-Israeli chess player. He was awarded the title of International Master (IM) by FIDE in 1952. Biog ...

won). Grünfeld was awarded the title International Grandmaster by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

in 1950. By the late 1950s he was playing very little chess and he mainly worked on his prodigious library which by now had completely filled the living room in his flat which he shared with his wife and daughter. His last tournament was Beverwijk ( Hoogovens Tournament) in 1961, where in a field with five more strong grandmasters, he finished with a score of 3/9 (with only one win, against

Jan Hein Donner Johannes Hendrikus (Hein) Donner (July 6, 1927 – November 27, 1988) was a Dutch chess grandmaster (GM) and writer. Donner was born in The Hague and won the Dutch Championship in 1954, 1957, and 1958. He took part in the Internacional Chess Tou ...

). He died in the Wilhelminenspital in

Ottakring Ottakring () is the 16th District in the city of Vienna, Austria (german: 16. Bezirk, Ottakring). It is located west of the central districts, north of Penzing and south of Hernals. Ottakring has some heavily populated urban areas with many resid ...

, Vienna on April 3, 1962.

Playing style

He reputedly modeled his style of play on

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 Grandmaster (chess), ...

's and only played 1.d4, claiming that he did not make mistakes in the opening. However, his style of avoiding complex variations together with an essentially drawish nature was simply not good enough to trouble the world's best. He is best remembered for his eponymous defence, the

(1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5) and for his general expertise in the opening.

Writings

Ernst Grünfeld contributed many articles on openings to chess magazines around Europe. Indeed, before he had turned 20, he was already contributing articles on the

Ruy Lopez The Ruy Lopez (; ), also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez is named after 16th-century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura. It is one o ...

to ''

Wiener Schachzeitung ''Wiener Schachzeitung'' (or ''Wiener Schach-Zeitung'', "''Viennese Chess Bulletin''") was the name of several Austrian chess periodicals published in Vienna between 1855 and 1949. Original publications (1855 and 1887-1888) The original publicat ...

'', which was one of the most popular German-language chess publications of its day, and over the next 40 years or so he wrote many articles on opening theory for

chess publications 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 disti ...

in Germany, Belgium, and the USSR. His favorite market was in Bulgaria, though, because they used to pay for his work in food rather than in money! He published several books which were generally well received and he contributed to a seminal account of the

Teplice Teplice () (until 1948 Teplice-Šanov; german: Teplitz-Schönau or ''Teplitz'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is the second largest Czech spa town, after Karlovy Vary. The his ...

tournament of 1922. Other publications include ''The Queen's Pawn Game and the Queen's Gambit Declined'' (1924) and ''Taschenbuch der Eroffnungen im Schach'' (1953).

References

External links

* Kmoch, Hans (2004)
Grandmasters I Have Known: Ernst Grünfeld
Chesscafe.com. *
Grünfeld's profile
on chessmetrics.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gruenfeld, Ernst Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Austrian chess players Austrian male writers Chess writers Chess theoreticians People from Josefstadt 1893 births 1962 deaths 20th-century chess players