– died May 17, 1876, Gersau

Gersau

Gersau is a municipality and district in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland, sitting on the shores of Lake Lucerne. Gersau was for many centuries an independent micro-state in permanent alliance with the Swiss Confederation.-History:...

, Canton of Schwyz

Canton of Schwyz

Schwyz is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne in the east and Lake Zurich in the north, centered around and named after the town of Schwyz....

) was a senior government official in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 as well as a Swiss–Austrian chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 master and theoretician.

He played matches with Johann Löwenthal

Johann Löwenthal

Johann Jacob Löwenthal was a professional chess master.Löwenthal was born in Budapest, the son of a Jewish merchant. He was educated at the gymnasium of his native city. In 1846, he won a match against Carl Hamppe in Vienna...

 (4 : 5) in 1846, Ernst Falkbeer

Ernst Falkbeer

Ernst Karl Falkbeer was an Austrian chess master and journalist.-Life and chess career:Born in Brno, Bohemia, Falkbeer moved to Vienna to study law, but ended up becoming a journalist...

 (16 : 15) in 1850, and Daniel Harrwitz

Daniel Harrwitz

Daniel Harrwitz was a Jewish German chess master.Harrwitz was born in Breslau in the Prussian Province of Silesia. He established his reputation in Paris, particularly as a player of blindfold games...

 (2 : 5) in 1852 and (0.5 : 3.5) in 1860.

Hamppe twice won the Vienna championship (Wiener Schachgesellschaft) in 1859 and 1860, both times ahead of Wilhelm Steinitz

Wilhelm Steinitz

Wilhelm Steinitz was an Austrian and then American chess player and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894. From the 1870s onwards, commentators have debated whether Steinitz was effectively the champion earlier...

.

His most famous game was the "Immortal Draw" (Carl Hamppe vs Philipp Meitner

Philipp Meitner

Philipp Meitner was an Austrian lawyer and chess master. His most famous game was the "Immortal Draw" . He won at Vienna 1875, and won a match against Adolf Schwarz at Vienna 1878.Meitner played in two strong international tournaments in the Vienna 1873 and Vienna 1882...

, Vienna 1872).

He made contributions to the Vienna Game

Vienna Game

The Vienna Game is a chess opening that begins with the moves:White's second move is less common than 2.Nf3, and is also of more recent vintage; a book reviewer wrote in the New York Times in 1888 that "since Morphy only one new opening has been introduced, the 'Vienna.The original idea behind...

(1.e4 e5 2.Nc3), and two variations in the Vienna Gambit: Hamppe-Allgaier Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ng5), and Hamppe-Muzio Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nf3 g5 5.Bc4 g4 6.O-O gxf3 7.Qxf3).

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