Joseph Platz (11 April 1905,

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Germany – 30 December 1981,

Manchester, Connecticut Manchester is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 59,713 ...

, USA) was a German-American

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 ...

master. He won the championship of Cologne in 1926, won the championship of the Rhine at Karlsruhe 1928, and won the championship of Hannover in 1931. He also tied for 4th–6th at Cologne 1924, and tied for 4th–5th at Duisburg 1929 (

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 Ch ...

, ''Hauptturnier A''). Platz emigrated to the United States because of Nazi policy in Germany in the 1930s. He played a few training games with his friend,

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 ...

, in New York in 1939–40. In the 1940s, he won the Bronx Championship six times. In 1948, he played in the U.S. Championship, placing 14th (

Herman Steiner Herman Steiner (April 15, 1905 – November 25, 1955) was an American chess player, organizer, and columnist. He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 1948 and became International Master in 1950. Even more important than his playing career were h ...

won). Between 1954 and 1972, he won the Western Massachusetts & Connecticut Valley Open Championship 14 times. He won the Connecticut Championship three times. He tied for the New England Championship four times. He was a USCF Master Emeritus and a medical doctor. In 1978, he wrote ''Chess memoirs: The chess career of a physician and Lasker pupil''. Platz is buried in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, RI.

References

1905 births 1981 deaths Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States German chess players Jewish chess players 20th-century American chess players 20th-century German chess players {{Germany-chess-bio-stub