Art of Sacrifice in Chess - Softcover

Spielmann, Rudolf

Softcover

ISBN 10: 487187480X ISBN 13: 9784871874809

Publisher: Ishi Press, 2018

Synopsis

“Tactics,” said a famous chessmaster, “is 99% of chess.” It follows that the most effective way to increase your playing strength is to master the tactical aspect of chess. But there's a knack to playing sacrifices and combinations! A few of us are born with this knack, but most of us have to acquire it. There is no surer or easier or more enjoyable way to acquire this vital chess skill than by studying Rudolf Spielmann's authoritative work on “the art of sacrifice in chess.” The basic idea expounded in Spielmann's classic is that you can win games by giving up material. The different types of sacrifices and combinations are classified and explained, so that you can recognize them and exploit them in your own games. In all cases, these sacrifices are attractively illustrated by some of the most beautiful games played by Spielmann in forty years of international and match competition with the world's greatest masters. In this book you will get the benefit of the great masters games and experience. Spielmann's ideas have stood the test of time and hardest kind of practice. His instructions are practical and pointed. Every chessplayer will relish Spielmann's masterpieces and find in them a source of inspiration for his own games.

About this title

About the Author

Rudolf Spielmann was one of the most brilliant chessmasters in the history of the game. Despite the enormous advances in modern defensive technique, he feared no man and no hazard! Winning many a brilliancy prize for his dazzling chess, he defeated Alekhine, Capablanca, Rubinstein, Nimzovich, Euwe, Tarrasch and many other famous masters. Rudolf Spielmann was born 5 May 1883 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. He was known for his daring attacks and sacrifices. However, his sacrifices did not always work. Being Jewish, his family suffered during the Holocaust and many of them died in concentration camps. Being a famous chess master may have helped him survive a little longer than the others, but he died in his hotel room on 20 August 1942. Spielmann never married or had children of his own. American Grandmaster Reuben Fine said in his 1945 book Chess Marches On, "In appearance and personal habits Spielmann was the mildest-mannered individual alive. Beer and chess were the great passions of his life; in his later years, at least, he cared for little else. Perhaps his chess became so vigorous as compensation for an otherwise uneventful life." He was known as "The Master of Attack" and "The Last Knight of the King's Gambit". His daredevil play was full of sacrifices and beautiful ideas. Spielmann was inordinately fond of the King's Gambit and continued using this opening after most elite players had abandoned it. Despite a strong opposition at that time, he won 33 tournaments, including Stockholm, 1919; Bad Pistyan 1922; and Semmering 1926. Rudolf Spielmann was Nordic Champion in 1919 and German Champion in 1927, his notable tournament achievements included 3rd= at St. Petersburg 1909, 1st at the Abbazia King's Gambit tournament 1912, 2nd at San Sebastian 1912, 1st at Baden bei Wien 1914, 1st at Stockholm 1919, 1st= at Teplitz-Schonau 1922, 1st at Semmering 1926 ahead of Alexander Alekhine. Friendly, pleasant and sensitive as a person his chess persona contrasted greatly. He loved complex positions and combinations which would give flight to his imagination and in the age of Hypermodernism he seemed to belong to an earlier more romantic time. Being Jewish, he fled Nazi Germany and in 1939 went to Sweden. According to his close relatives he locked himself in his room and was later found starved to death. Another version is that he suffered from a 'Parkinson's disease'-like illness, which became worse rapidly, at the end on 20 August 1942.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ishi Press
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 487187480X
• ISBN 13: 9784871874809
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208
• Editor: Reinfeld Fred, Horowitz I. A.