Max Lange (August 7, 1832,

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...

– December 8, 1899,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

) was a German chess player and problem composer.

Chess career

In 1858–64, Lange was an editor of the ''

Deutsche Schachzeitung ''Deutsche Schachzeitung'' (English: "''German Chess Paper''") was the first German chess magazine. Founded in 1846 by Ludwig Bledow under the title ''Schachzeitung der Berliner Schachgesellschaft'' and appearing monthly, it took the name ''Deutsch ...

'' (German Chess Newsletter). He was a founder of ''Westdeutscher Schachbund'' (West German Chess Federation, WDSB), and an organizer of the 9th DSB–Congress (''Kongress des Deutschen Schachbundes'') at Leipzig 1894. He was second President of the

German Chess Federation The German Chess Federation (german: Deutscher Schachbund, DSB) is the umbrella organization for German chess players. It is a member of the Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund and of FIDE, the World Chess Federation. It has over 90,000 members in ov ...

(DSB). Max Lange won four Western German championships: thrice in Düsseldorf (1862, 1863, 1864), and at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) 1868 (7th WDSB–Congress). He also won at Hamburg 1868 (1st Congress of the North German Chess Federation). The statistical website Chessmetrics.com estimates that Lange was one of the top ten players in the world in the 1860s. He took an extended sabbatical from tournament chess from 1868 until his final appearance in the third DSB-Congress at

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

1883. Lange finished in a tie for 17th–19th place, which was last. His ability had clearly deteriorated as a result of his long layoff but Chessmetrics.com places him among the top 40 to 50 players in the world in the 1880s on the basis of this result. Lange should not be confused with the lesser-known but identically named Dr. Max Lange (1883–1923), who is generally referenced as Max Lange 2 in chess literature and whose best known tournaments were Hilversum 1903 and the 14th DSB-Congress 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.

Works

Lange published ''Lehrbuch des Schachspiels'' (Textbook of Chess Games, Halle 1856), and ''Handbuch der Schachaufgaben'' (Handbook of

Chess problem A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by the composer using chess pieces on a chess board, which presents the solver with a particular task. For instance, a position may be given with the instruction that White is to ...

s, Leipzig 1862).

Legacy

The variation of the

Two Knights Defense The Two Knights Defense is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bc4 Nf6 First recorded by Giulio Cesare Polerio (c. 1550 – c. 1610) in the late 16th century, this line of the Italian Game was extensiv ...

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.O–O Bc5 6.e5 is called the

Max Lange Attack The Max Lange Attack is a chess opening that can arise from several different opening lines, including the Two Knights Defense, Petroff's Defense, Scotch Gambit, Bishop's Opening, Center Game, and Giuoco Piano. Two of the most commonly seen a ...

. The

Vienna Game The Vienna Game is an opening in chess that begins with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nc3 White's second move is less common than 2.Nf3, and is also more recent. The original idea behind the Vienna Game was to play a delayed King's Gambit with ...

variation 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 is known as the Max Lange Defense.

References

External links

* 1832 births 1899 deaths German chess players German chess writers Chess theoreticians Chess officials German male non-fiction writers 19th-century chess players {{Germany-chess-bio-stub