Ernst Grünfeld
Encyclopedia
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Ernst Franz Grünfeld (November 21, 1893, Josefstadt
– April 3, 1962, Ottakring
), an Austrian grandmaster and writer specializing in opening
theory
, was for a brief period after the First World War one of the strongest chess players in the world.
, Grünfeld lost a leg in an early childhood which was beset by poverty. However, he discovered chess, studied intensely, and quickly earned a reputation as a skilled player at the local chess club
, the Wiener Schach-Klub.
The First World War (1914–1918) seriously affected Grünfeld's chances of playing the best in the world as few tournaments were played during this troubled period. He was reduced to playing correspondence
matches and spent much of his spare time studying opening variations. He started a library of chess material which he kept in his small Viennese flat until his death at the age of 68 in 1962.
He developed a reputation as an expert on openings during the 1920s and success over the board soon followed. He was 1st= in Vienna (1920) with Saviely Tartakower; 1st in Margate
(1923); 1st in Meran (1924); 1st in Budapest
(1926) with Mario Monticelli
; 1st in Vienna (1927) and he shared first spot in the Vienna tournaments of 1928 and 1933 (Trebitsch Memorial) — the former with Sándor Takács
and the latter with Hans Müller; and finally he was 1st in the tournament at Ostrava
of 1933. He also won in the 23rd DSB Congress
at Frankfurt 1923.
During the Bad Pistyan (Piešťany)
tournament of April 1922 Grünfeld introduced his most important contribution to opening theory—the Grünfeld Defence
. He played the defence against Friedrich Sämisch
in round 7, drawing
in 22 moves, and later that year he used it successfully against Alexander Alekhine
in the Vienna tournament. However, he did not play the opening frequently.
During the late 1920s and 1930s Grünfeld played top board for Austria in four Chess Olympiads (1927, 1931, 1933, 1935), and his best year was in 1927 when he scored 9½/12. According to the Chessmetrics
website he would have been rated around 2715 at his peak (December 1924).
In May 1943, he took 2nd, behind Paul Keres
, in Posen, and won in December 1943 in Vienna. After the Second World War, he tied for 3rd-4th at Vienna 1951 (Schlechter Memorial, Moshe Czerniak
won). Grünfeld became an International Grandmaster in 1950. By the late 1950s he was playing very little chess and he mainly worked on his prodigious library which by now had completely filled the living room in his flat which he shared with his wife and daughter.
His last tournament was Beverwijk (Hoogovens) in 1961, where in a field with five more strong grandmasters, he finished with a score of 3/9 (with only one win, against Jan Hein Donner
).
He died in Vienna of obesity
on April 3, 1962.
's and only played 1.d4
, claiming that he did not make mistakes in the opening. However, his style of avoiding complex variations together with an essentially drawish nature was simply not good enough to trouble the world's best. He is best remembered for his eponymous defence, the Grünfeld Defence
(1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5) and for his general expertise in the opening.
to Wiener Schachzeitung, which was one of the most popular German language chess publications of its day, and over the next 40 years or so he wrote many articles on opening theory for chess publications in Germany, Belgium, and the USSR. His favorite market was in Bulgaria though because they used to pay for his work in food rather than in money!
He published several books which were generally well received and he contributed to a seminal account of the Teplice
tournament of 1922. Other publications include The Queen's Pawn Game and the Queen's Gambit Declined (1924) and Taschenbuch der Eroffnungen im Schach (1953).
Ernst Franz Grünfeld (November 21, 1893, Josefstadt
Josefstadt
Josefstadt is the eighth district of Vienna . It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Josefstadt is a heavily populated urban area with many workers and residential homes.It has a population of 22,057 people...
– April 3, 1962, Ottakring
Ottakring
Ottakring is the 16th District in the city of Vienna, Austria . It is located west of the central districts, north of Penzing and south of Hernals. Ottakring has some heavily populated urban areas with many residential buildings...
), an Austrian grandmaster and writer specializing in opening
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...
theory
Chess theory
The game of chess is commonly divided into three phases: the opening, middlegame, and endgame. As to each of these phases, especially the opening and endgame, there is a large body of theory as how the game should be played...
, was for a brief period after the First World War one of the strongest chess players in the world.
Life and career
Born in ViennaVienna
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...
, Grünfeld lost a leg in an early childhood which was beset by poverty. However, he discovered chess, studied intensely, and quickly earned a reputation as a skilled player at the local chess club
Chess club
A chess club is a club formed for the purpose of playing the board game of chess. Chess clubs provide for both informal games and timed games, often as part of an internal competition or in a league.-Organisation:...
, the Wiener Schach-Klub.
The First World War (1914–1918) seriously affected Grünfeld's chances of playing the best in the world as few tournaments were played during this troubled period. He was reduced to playing correspondence
Correspondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
matches and spent much of his spare time studying opening variations. He started a library of chess material which he kept in his small Viennese flat until his death at the age of 68 in 1962.
He developed a reputation as an expert on openings during the 1920s and success over the board soon followed. He was 1st= in Vienna (1920) with Saviely Tartakower; 1st in Margate
Margate
-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....
(1923); 1st in Meran (1924); 1st in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
(1926) with Mario Monticelli
Mario Monticelli
Mario Monticelli was an Italian chess grandmaster.In 1922, he won in Rome . In 1925, he won in Bologna. In 1926, Monticelli tied for 1st with Ernst Grünfeld in Budapest. In 1929, he took 11th in Budapest . In 1929, he tied for 4-5th in Barcelona...
; 1st in Vienna (1927) and he shared first spot in the Vienna tournaments of 1928 and 1933 (Trebitsch Memorial) — the former with Sándor Takács
Sándor Takács
Sándor Takács was a Hungarian chess master, born Károly Sydlauer in Miskolc, Hungary.- Career :In 1922, he took 13th in Vienna . In 1924, he took 6th in Meran . In 1925, Takacs won, ahead of Lajos Steiner, in Budapest...
and the latter with Hans Müller; and finally he was 1st in the tournament at Ostrava
Ostrava
Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...
of 1933. He also won in the 23rd DSB Congress
DSB Congress
The Deutschen Schachbund had been 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 Chairman and Hermann Zwanziger the General Secretary...
at Frankfurt 1923.
During the Bad Pistyan (Piešťany)
Pieštany
Piešťany is a town in Slovakia. It is located in the western part of the country within the Trnava Region and is the seat of its own district. It is the biggest and best known spa town in Slovakia and has around 30,000 inhabitants.-History:...
tournament of April 1922 Grünfeld introduced his most important contribution to opening theory—the Grünfeld Defence
Grünfeld Defence
The Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The first instance of this opening is in an 1855 game by Moheschunder Bannerjee, an Indian player who had transitioned from Indian chess rules, playing black against John Cochrane in Calcutta, in May 1855: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4...
. He played the defence against Friedrich Sämisch
Friedrich Sämisch
Friedrich Sämisch was a German chess grandmaster .-Main results:* 2nd at Berlin 1920...
in round 7, drawing
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
in 22 moves, and later that year he used it successfully against Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played...
in the Vienna tournament. However, he did not play the opening frequently.
During the late 1920s and 1930s Grünfeld played top board for Austria in four Chess Olympiads (1927, 1931, 1933, 1935), and his best year was in 1927 when he scored 9½/12. According to the Chessmetrics
Chessmetrics
Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system.-Implementation:...
website he would have been rated around 2715 at his peak (December 1924).
In May 1943, he took 2nd, behind Paul Keres
Paul Keres
Paul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....
, in Posen, and won in December 1943 in Vienna. After the Second World War, he tied for 3rd-4th at Vienna 1951 (Schlechter Memorial, Moshe Czerniak
Moshe Czerniak
-Biography:In 1930 Moshe Czerniak took ninth at Warsaw in an event won by Paulino Frydman. In 1934 Czerniak emigrated from Poland to Palestine . In April 1935, he tied for 7th–8th in Tel Aviv . He was Palestinian Champion in 1936 and 1938. In April 1939, he played in the First Lasker Chess Club...
won). Grünfeld became an International Grandmaster in 1950. By the late 1950s he was playing very little chess and he mainly worked on his prodigious library which by now had completely filled the living room in his flat which he shared with his wife and daughter.
His last tournament was Beverwijk (Hoogovens) in 1961, where in a field with five more strong grandmasters, he finished with a score of 3/9 (with only one win, against Jan Hein Donner
Jan Hein Donner
Johannes Hendrikus Donner was a Dutch chess grandmaster and writer. Donner was born in The Hague and won the Dutch Championship in 1954, 1957, and 1958. FIDE, the World Chess Federation, awarded him the GM title in 1959. He played 11 times for the Netherlands in the Chess Olympiads...
).
He died in Vienna of obesity
Obesity
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
on April 3, 1962.
Playing style
He reputedly modeled his style of play on Akiba RubinsteinAkiba Rubinstein
Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein was a famous Polish chess Grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century. He was scheduled to play a match with Emanuel Lasker for the world championship in 1914, but it was cancelled because of the outbreak of World War I...
's and only played 1.d4
Queen's Pawn Game
In the most general sense the term Queen's Pawn Game can refer to any chess opening which starts with the move:It is the second most popular opening move. The name is now usually used to describe openings beginning with the moves 1.d4 d5 where White does not follow through with an early pawn...
, claiming that he did not make mistakes in the opening. However, his style of avoiding complex variations together with an essentially drawish nature was simply not good enough to trouble the world's best. He is best remembered for his eponymous defence, the Grünfeld Defence
Grünfeld Defence
The Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The first instance of this opening is in an 1855 game by Moheschunder Bannerjee, an Indian player who had transitioned from Indian chess rules, playing black against John Cochrane in Calcutta, in May 1855: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4...
(1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5) and for his general expertise in the opening.
Writings
Ernst Grünfeld contributed many articles on openings to chess magazines around Europe. Indeed, before he had turned 20, he was already contributing articles on the Ruy LopezRuy Lopez
The Ruy Lopez, also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The opening is named after the 16th century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura, who made a systematic study of this and other openings in the 150-page book on chess Libro del...
to Wiener Schachzeitung, which was one of the most popular German language chess publications of its day, and over the next 40 years or so he wrote many articles on opening theory for chess publications in Germany, Belgium, and the USSR. His favorite market was in Bulgaria though because they used to pay for his work in food rather than in money!
He published several books which were generally well received and he contributed to a seminal account of the Teplice
Teplice
Teplice , Teplice-Šanov until 1948 is a town in the Czech Republic, the capital of the Teplice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region. It is the state's second largest spa town ....
tournament of 1922. Other publications include The Queen's Pawn Game and the Queen's Gambit Declined (1924) and Taschenbuch der Eroffnungen im Schach (1953).
External links
- Kmoch, HansHans KmochJohann "Hans" Joseph Kmoch was an Austrian-Dutch-American chess International Master , International Arbiter , and a chess journalist and author, for which he is best known....
(2004). Grandmasters I Have Known: Ernst Grünfeld. Chesscafe.com. - Statistics at ChessWorld.net
- Grünfeld's profile on chessmetrics.com