Johann Nepomuk Berger (11 April 1845,

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...

– 17 October 1933) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

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, theorist,

endgame study In the game of chess, an endgame study, or just study, is a composed position—that is, one that has been made up rather than played in an actual game—presented as a sort of puzzle, in which the aim of the solver is to find the essentially uniq ...

composer, author and editor. In September 1870, he won the first tournament in the

Austro-Hungarian Empire 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 ...

. In 1875, he won a match against

Alexander Wittek Alexander Wittek (12 October 1852, Sisak – 11 May 1894, Graz) was an Austrian-Hungarian architect and chess master. As an architect, Wittek worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina during Austro-Hungarian Empire. His most well-known works in Sarajevo ...

(14 : 4) in Graz, and drew a match with Paul Lipke (3½ : 3½) at Eisenach 1896. He tied for 5–6th at Graz 1880 ( Max Weiss,

Johannes von Minckwitz Johannes Minckwitz (April 11, 1843, Leipzig – May 20, 1901, Biebrich) was a German chess player and author. Origins He was the son of German classical scholar and author Johannes Minckwitz. Chess play His best achievement was 2nd place, b ...

and

Adolf Schwarz Adolf Schwarz (31 October 1836, Gálszécs, Hungary, now Sečovce, Slovakia – 25 October 1910, Vienna) was an Austro-Hungarian chess master. He took 10th in the Vienna 1873 chess tournament (Wilhelm Steinitz and Joseph Henry Blackburne won). ...

won); tied for 9–10th at Berlin 1881 (second

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 ...

Joseph Henry Blackburne Joseph Henry Blackburne (10 December 1841 – 1 September 1924) was a British chess player. Nicknamed "The Black Death", he dominated the British scene during the latter part of the 19th century. Blackburne learned the game at the relatively late ...

won); took fourth at Nuremberg 1883 (third DSB–Congress, Simon Winawer won); tied for 11–12th at Hamburg 1885 (fourth DSB–Congress,

Isidor Gunsberg Isidore ( ; also spelled Isador, Isadore and Isidor) is an English and French masculine given name. The name is derived from the Greek name ''Isídōros'' (Ἰσίδωρος) and can literally be translated to "gift of Isis." The name has survived ...

won); tied for 5–6th at Frankfurt 1887 (fifth DSB–Congress,

George Henry Mackenzie George Henry Mackenzie (24 March 1837, North Kessock, Scotland – 14 April 1891, New York City) was a Scottish-born American chess master. Biography Mackenzie was educated mainly in Aberdeen, at the Aberdeen Grammar School and the Marischal ...

won); took tenth at Breslau 1889 (sixth DSB–Congress,

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 ...

won); tied for 4–5th at Graz 1890 (

Gyula Makovetz Gyula Makovetz (Makowetz, Makovets) (29 December 1860, Arad – 8 August 1903, Budapest) was a Hungarian journalist and chess player. He edited the chess magazine ''Budapesti Sakkszemle'' from 1889 to 1894. Makovetz was 1st, ahead of Johann Herm ...

won); tied for 8–9th at Leipzig 1894 (ninth DSB–Congress, Tarrasch won). He took eighth place at

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

1898 (eleventh DSB–Congress,

Amos Burn Amos Burn (1848–1925) was an English chess player, one of the world's leading players at the end of the 19th century, and a chess writer. Burn was born on New Year's Eve, 1848, in Hull.Richard Forster, ''Amos Burn: A Chess Biography'', McFar ...

won); tied for 7–10th at Munich 1900 (twelfth DSB–Congress,

Géza Maróczy Géza Maróczy (; 3 March 1870 – 29 May 1951) was a Hungarian chess player, one of the leading players in the world in his time. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Early career G� ...

Carl Schlechter 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 World Chess Championship match with Emanuel Lasker. Early life Sch ...

and Harry Pillsbury won); tied for 6–7th at

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...

1904 (fourteenth DSB–Congress, Curt von Bardeleben, Schlechter and

Rudolf Swiderski Rudolf Swiderski (July 28, 1878 in Leipzig – August 2, 1909 in Leipzig) was a German chess master. He took 6th at Eisenach 1896 (''Hauptturnier''), took 2nd at Annaberg 1897, tied for 7-8th at Berlin 1897, and tied for 3-6th in Amsterdam. H ...

won); took sixth at

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electr ...

1905 (

Dawid Janowski Dawid Markelowicz Janowski (25 May 1868 – 15 January 1927; often spelled ''David'') was a Polish-born French chess player. The Janowski variations of the Old Indian Defense and of the Queen's Gambit Declined are named after him. Biography B ...

and Maroczy won); tied for 7–8th at

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

1907 (

Jacques Mieses Jacques Mieses (born Jacob Mieses; 27 February 1865 – 23 February 1954) was a German-born British chess player. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. He became a naturalized British ci ...

won); tied for 16–18th in the

Carlsbad 1907 chess tournament The Carlsbad 1907 chess tournament was one of four well-known international chess tournaments held in the spa city of Carlsbad (Bohemia, then Austria-Hungary Empire). The other tournament years were 1911, 1923 and 1929. The 1907 tournament was h ...

(

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 ...

won), and took fifteenth in the Vienna 1908 chess tournament (

Oldřich Duras Oldřich Duras (also Důras; 30 October 1882, Pchery, Bohemia, then Austria-Hungary – 5 January 1957, Prague, then Czechoslovakia) was a leading Czech chess master of the early 20th century. FIDE awarded him the title of International Gran ...

, Maróczy and Schlechter won). Berger was the first Austrian to win an important international correspondence tournament the ''Monde Illustré 1889–1892'', and he did so with the result of 45 wins, no losses, and three draws. He was editor of the ''Deutsche Schachzeitung'' and author of ''Das Schachproblem und dessen Kunstgerechte Darstellung'' (Leipzig 1884), ''Theorie und Praxis der Endspiele'' (Leipzig 1890), ''Problemen, Studien und Partien'' (Leipzig 1914). Berger was a major

composer, having published more than 100 studies, many of which gave notable contributions to endgame theory. His book ''Theorie und Praxis der Endspiele'' (''Theory and Practice of the Endgame'') was published in 1891, revised in 1922, and supplemented in 1933. This was the first modern comprehensive book on practical endgames, and was the standard work on endgames for decades. Berger discussed the tie-break system now called the Sonneborn–Berger system, but he did not invent it. See Tie-breaking in Swiss system tournaments#Sonneborn–Berger for details.Deutscher Schachbund / Schacholympiade Dresden 2008

References

Bibliography *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Johann Nepomuk 1845 births 1933 deaths Sportspeople from Graz People from the Duchy of Styria Austrian chess players Chess composers Chess theoreticians