Johann Löwenthal
Encyclopedia
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...
– 24 July 1876, Hastings, England
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
) was a professional 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.
Löwenthal was born 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...
, 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
Carl Hamppe
Carl Hamppe was a senior government official in Vienna as well as a Swiss–Austrian chess master and theoretician....
in Vienna (+5 -4 =0). He received a civil appointment under the administration of Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.-Family:Lajos...
in 1848. On the downfall of the latter, Löwenthal was expelled from Hungary, and he emigrated to America (1849). In 1851 he went to London, and thenceforward resided permanently in England. At the Manchester tourney of 1857 Löwenthal defeated Adolf Anderssen
Adolf Anderssen
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen was a German chess master. He is considered to have been the world's leading chess player in the 1850s and 1860s...
for first place.
In his visit to New Orleans, Löwenthal played Paul Morphy
Paul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and an unofficial World Chess Champion. He was a chess prodigy...
on two separate occasions, losing a total of three games straight.
He was one of the first masters to play a match against Morphy after the latter's arrival in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1858. Morphy won with a score of nine wins, three losses and two draws. "...I am convinced that I was vanquished by superior strength," Löwenthal said about the match, as reported by the Englishman Frederick Edge. No doubt aware that chess was Löwenthal's only source of livelihood, and conscious to not be considered a professional player himself, Morphy after winning the match stakes of £100, presented Löwenthal with a gift of furniture valued at £120 for his new house.
Just days after being defeated by Morphy, Löwenthal had his greatest success by winning the British Chess Association Congress knockout tournament in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England on 27 August 1858. His prize was £63.
In 1860 Löwenthal took advantage of Morphy's extreme popularity to create a collection of the American master's games titled Morphy's Games of Chess. According to Morphy's biographer David Lawson, Morphy was friendly to Löwenthal and therefore agreed to sign his name to material in the book, that was purported to be written by Morphy but in fact was not.
For a time, Löwenthal served as club secretary of the St. George's Chess Club in London. He taught chess, and invented the first demonstration board. He helped organize an international tournament in 1862, and then published a tournament book.
Löwenthal was for some time chess editor of The Illustrated News of the World and of The Era. He was editor also of The Chess Players' Magazine (1863–67). In 1860 he published Morphy's Games of Chess, with Analytical and Critical Notes.
Löwenthal lived into his sixties. When he became ill in 1874 and could no longer financially support himself, a collection was taken up for him. Lord Randolph Churchill
Lord Randolph Churchill
Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill MP was a British statesman. He was the third son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough and his wife Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane , daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry...
and many others contributed to the charity fund. Under the influence of W. G. Ward, with whom he played chess, Löwenthal became a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. He died on 24 July 1876 at St. Leonards-on-Sea, near Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
at the age of sixty-six.