Julius du Mont (15 December 1881, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 7 April 1956, in

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

) was a French-born pianist, piano teacher,

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 ...

player, journalist, editor and writer. He studied music at the

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Conservatoire and at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, and became a concert pianist. He emigrated to England as a young man and became a successful piano teacher. Amongst his pupils was

Edna Iles Edna Amy Iles (18 May 190529 January 2003) was an English classical pianist. Edna Iles was born in Kings Heath, Birmingham in 1905. She began her studies in Birmingham with Appleby Matthews, making her debut as soloist with the City of Birming ...

. He settled in London and also gained a reputation as a strong chess player. He won club and county chess championships in the period leading up to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and showed his mastery of the English language by writing a manual on the Lewis gun. After the war, chess writing took up more and more of his time. Perhaps his most famous work was ''500 Master Games of Chess'' (1952), written in collaboration with

Savielly Tartakower Savielly Tartakower (also known as ''Xavier'' or ''Ksawery'' ''Tartakower'', less often ''Tartacover'' or ''Tartakover''; 21 February 1887 – 4 February 1956) was a Polish chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster (chess), Internatio ...

. For some years, du Mont was chess columnist of '' The Field'' and of the ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. From 1940 to 1949, he was general editor of ''

British Chess Magazine ''British Chess Magazine'' is the world's oldest chess journal in continuous publication. First published in January 1881, it has appeared at monthly intervals ever since. It is frequently known in the chess world as ''BCM''. The founder and ...

''.

Bibliography

*''Chess Openings Illustrated'' *''I Centre Counter Defence'' (1919) *''II Centre and Danish Gambit'' (1920) *''The Elements of Chess'' (1925) *''The Basis of Combination in Chess'' (1938) *''200 Miniature Games'' (1941) *''More Miniature Games'' (1953) *''500 Master Games of Chess'' (with

), two volumes (1952) *''100 Master Games of Modern Chess'' (with

), (1954)

Translations

Edward Lasker Edward Lasker (born Eduard Lasker) (December 3, 1885 – March 25, 1981) was a German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author ...

’s ''Chess Strategy'' *

Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine. He disliked when Russians sometimes pronounced the of as , , which he regarded as a Yiddish distortion of his name, and insisted that the correct Russian pronunciation was . (March 24, 1946) was a Russian ...

’s two volumes of ''My Best Games of Chess'' (the first with M. E. Goldstein) *

Rudolf Spielmann Rudolf Spielmann (5 May 1883 – 20 August 1942) was a Jewish-Austrian chess master of the romantic school, and chess writer. Career Spielmann was born in 1883, second child of Moritz and Cecilia Spielmann, and had a younger brother Edgar, an ...

’s ''Art of Sacrifice in Chess''

References

*''British Chess Magazine'', May 1956, p119 (Obituary)

External links

British Chess Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mont, Julius du 1881 births 1956 deaths French chess players British chess players British writers French chess writers French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French male writers French emigrants to the United Kingdom Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts alumni Chess theoreticians British magazine editors German–English translators British columnists The Guardian journalists 20th-century French male pianists British male pianists British piano educators French music educators Musicians from Paris Gun writers