Philipp Hirschfeld (1 October 1840 – 4 October 1896) was a German

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 ...

player and theoretician.Egbert Meissenburg, ''Juden im Schachleben Deutschlands 1830-1930'' in ''Menora: Jahrbuch für deutsch-jüdische Geschichte 1996'' Hirschfeld was born in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

, and came from an affluent background. He learned the game of chess as a child in Königsberg, and by the time he went to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in 1859 to study, he was already a very strong player and theoretician. He was in the editorial department of the Deutschen Schachzeitung, where he published analysis of opening theory. During his time in Berlin, he played matches with

Carl Mayet Carl (Karl) Mayet (11 August 1810, Berlin – 18 May 1868, Stettin, now Szczecin) was a German chess master. He was one of the most original of the Berlin Pleiades (the seven stars of German chess). In 1839, Mayet defeated Jozsef Szen in a match ...

and Berthold Suhle (+0 -7 = 2) in 1860, and with

Adolf Anderssen Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 – March 13, 1879)"Anderssen, Adolf" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 385. was a German chess master. He won the great internat ...

(+10, -14, =5) and Gustav Neumann in 1861. In 1863 Hirschfeld finished his studies and joined his father's business. In

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, he founded the Königsberg Tea Company, with branches in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

and China. Hirschfeld's profession left him no time for international tournaments, but on his business trips he met up with the best players of his time and occasionally contested matches with them. In 1865 he drew a match with Ignaz von Kolisch in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

4-4 (+4, -4, =0), and in 1865 he lost a match in Moscow against Sergey Urusov 2-3 (+1, -2, =2). Hirschfeld also played individual games against

Wilhelm Steinitz William Steinitz (born Wilhelm Steinitz; May 14, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was an Austrian and, later, American chess player. From 1886 to 1894, he was the first official World Chess Champion. He was also a highly influential writer and c ...

, Johann Jacob Löwenthal, Bernhard Horwitz and

Cecil De Vere Cecil Valentine De Vere (14 February 1846 in London – 9 February 1875 in Torquay) was the winner of the first official British Chess Championship in 1866. He was born Valentine John Cecil De Vere Mathews in 1846. It is likely that he was th ...

. In 1873 he took up permanent residence in London, where he was a frequent analysis partner of

Johannes Zukertort Johannes Hermann Zukertort (Polish: ''Jan Hermann Cukiertort''; 7 September 1842 – 20 June 1888) was a Polish chess master. He was one of the leading world players for most of the 1870s and 1880s, but lost to Wilhelm Steinitz in the World Che ...

. From that time he regularly lived a few months of the year in Berlin. He died in 1896 in

Wannsee Wannsee () is a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany. It is the westernmost locality of Berlin. In the quarter there are two lakes, the larger ''Großer Wannsee'' (Greater Wannsee, "See" means lake) and the ...

. 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, his best historical Elo rating was 2600, which he attained in October 1864. Between 1862 and 1866 he was ranked 4th in the world.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirschfeld, Philipp 1840 births 1896 deaths Sportspeople from Königsberg People from the Province of Prussia 19th-century German Jews German chess players German chess writers Jewish chess players German male non-fiction writers 19th-century chess players Sportspeople from the Kingdom of Prussia

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