Hermann Clemenz (23 January 1846 – 28 March 1908) was an Estonian

chess master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...

Biography

Born in Dorpat,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(present-day

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

), he began his chess career in his native town, then lived in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, where he participated in several tournaments. In Dorpat, he won some games against Eisenschmidt in the 1860s. In St. Petersburg he took 4th in 1876 (

Andreas Ascharin Andreas Ascharin (, ''Andrey Aleksandrovich Asharin''; in Pärnu – in Riga) was a Baltic German-Russian chess master. Ascharin's father was Russian, his mother was from a Baltic German family. He read law in Dorpat (now Tartu). Between 1875 ...

won), took 4th in 1877 (

Mikhail Chigorin Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin (also ''Tchigorin''; ; – ) was a Russian chess player. He played two World Championship matches against Wilhelm Steinitz, losing both times. The last great player of the Romantic chess style, he also served as a ma ...

won), and took 3rd, behind Sergey Lebedev and Grigory Helbach, in 1901.

Legacy

His name is attached to the Clemenz Opening; 1.h3. He played this opening in St. Petersburg in 1873.

References

1846 births 1908 deaths Sportspeople from Tartu People from Kreis Dorpat Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire Estonian chess players 19th-century chess players 19th-century chess players from the Russian Empire {{Estonia-chess-bio-stub