Adolf Albin (14 September 1848 – 22 March 1920) was a Romanian

chess player This list of chess players includes people who are primarily known as chess players and have an article on the English Wikipedia. A * Jacob Aagaard (Denmark, Scotland, born 1973) * Manuel Aaron (India, born 1935) * Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan, bor ...

. He is best known for the countergambit that bears his name and for authoring the first chess book written in Romanian.

Life

He was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania to a wealthy family. His forefathers, however, sprang from

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, Germany and settled in

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in the 19th century, but later moved to Romania. After completing his studies in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, he went back to Romania, where he ran the Frothier Printing House in Bucharest. Soon he became associated with Dr. Bethel Henry Baron von Stroussberg, working as a translator for the influential railroad tycoon who was nicknamed "The King of Railways". Stroussberg's financial bankruptcy in 1875 led to Albin's exile in Vienna once again, together with his wife and three children. He died at age 71 in a Vienna sanatorium.

Chess career

Albin came to

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

relatively late: according to ''

The Oxford Companion to Chess ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'' is a reference book on the game of chess written by David Vincent Hooper and Kenneth Whyld. The book is written in an encyclopedia format. The book belongs to the Oxford Companions series. Details The first ed ...

'' he learnt the game in his 20s and did not play in international events until his 40s. His best result came at

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

1893, where he finished second behind

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

(who scored a perfect 13/13), ahead of Jackson Showalter,

Harry Nelson Pillsbury Harry Nelson Pillsbury (December 5, 1872 – June 17, 1906) was a leading American chess player. At the age of 22, he won the Hastings 1895 chess tournament, one of the strongest tournaments of the time, but his illness and early death prevente ...

and others. He played in the very strong tournaments at Hastings 1895 (scoring 8½/21) and

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

1896 (scoring 7/18). His tournament results on the whole were spotty, though he won individual games against several notable players, including world champion

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

at New York 1894 and Nuremberg 1896. He authored the first chess book in Romanian, ''Amiculŭ Joculu de Scachu Teoreticu şi Practicu'' (published in Bucharest in 1872).

Death

As Michael Lorenz has noted in Chess Note 11752 (March 8, 2020), Albin died on 22 March 1920, and not on 1 February 1920 as previously believed."Chess Note 11752" at www.chesshistory.com
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Legacy

Albin is the

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

of several

chess opening The opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established Chess_theory#Opening_theory, theory. The other phases are the chess middlegame, middlegame and the chess endgame, endgame. Many opening sequences, known as ''op ...

variations, notably the

Albin Countergambit The Albin Countergambit is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e5 and the usual continuation is: :3. dxe5 d4 The opening is a gambit and an uncommon response to the Queen's Gambit. In exchange for the sacrificed ...

in the

Queen's Gambit The Queen's Gambit is the chess opening that starts with the moves: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 It is one of the oldest openings and is still commonly played today. It is traditionally described as a '' gambit'' because White appears to sacrifice the ...

(1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5) and the Albin Attack (also known as the Alekhine–Chatard Attack) in 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. Black usually plays ...c5 soon after, attacking White's and gaining on the . The French has a reputation for solidity ...

(1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4).

References

Bibliography * *Urcan, Olimpiu G. (2008). ''Adolf Albin in America: A European Chess Master's Sojourn, 1893–1895''. (McFarland & Co. Inc. Publishers).

External links

* * (1999)
Adolf Albin: The Teacher of Nimzovich?
. chessarch.com. * Urcan, Olimpiu G. (2004)
Adolf Albin and the Genesis of the Albin Counter Gambit Part I
(

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

). Chesscafe.com. * Urcan, Olimpiu G. (2004)
Adolf Albin and the Genesis of the Albin Counter Gambit Part II
(

). Chesscafe.com. {{DEFAULTSORT:Albin, Adolf 1848 births 1920 deaths 19th-century chess players 19th-century Romanian people Chess theoreticians Romanian people of Austrian descent Chess players from Bucharest Romanian chess players