Samuel Rosenthal
Encyclopedia
Samuel Rosenthal
Samuel Rosenthal (7 September 1837, Suwałki, then Russian Empire
– 12 September 1902, Neuilly-sur-Seine
, France
) was a Jewish chess master. Chess historian Edward Winter
wrote, "He dedicated his life to chess-playing, touring, writing, teaching and analysing. Despite only occasional participation in first-class events, he scored victories over all the leading masters of the time (Anderssen
, Blackburne
, Chigorin
, Mackenzie
, Mason
, Paulsen
, Steinitz
and Zukertort
). He also acquired world renown as an unassuming showman who gave large simultaneous displays and blindfold
séances, invariably producing a cluster of glittering moves."
Rosenthal became a law student and moved from Warsaw
to Paris
, during the Polish revolution in 1864, after the failure of the January Uprising
. He settled in Paris as a chess professional and writer. In 1864, he lost a match to Ignatz von Kolisch (+1 –7 =0) in Paris. Rosenthal won the Café de la Régence
championship in 1865, 1866, and 1867 in Paris, and became the strongest French chess player. In 1867, he took 9th in the Paris tournament
(von Kolisch won), and lost a match to Gustav Neumann
(+0 –5 =6) in Paris. In 1869, he lost two matches to Neumann (+1 –3 =1) and (+2 –4 =1). In July 1870, he tied for 8–9th in Baden-Baden. The event was won by Adolf Anderssen
.
Because of the Franco Prussian War of 1870–71, Rosenthal went to London. In 1870/71, he won a match against John Wisker
(+3 –2 =4).
In July–August 1873, Rosenthal took 4th, behind Wilhelm Steinitz
, Joseph Henry Blackburne
, and Anderssen, in Vienna. In 1878, he tied for 7-8th in Paris (Johannes Zukertort
and Szymon Winawer
won). In 1880, he won in Paris the first unofficial French Chess Championship
(ahead of Albert Clerc
and Jules Arnous de Rivière
). In 1880, he lost a match against Zukertort (+1 –7 =11) in London. In 1883, he took 8th in London (Zukertort won). In 1887, he tied for 5–7th in Frankfurt am Main (5th DSB–Congress, Hauptturnier, elim.).
His results were affected by his journalistic activities and bad health.
From 1885 to 1902, he edited a chess column for the Le Monde Illustré, and also wrote for La Strategie, La Vie Moderne, and other French newspapers.
In 1898, he successfully sued one of his chess students, Prince Balaschoff, when his contract was terminated. The First Chamber of the Civil Tribunal (première chambre civile) at Paris awarded Rosenthal 15,000 francs. The Prince had been paying Rosenthal 500 francs a month, and 1,000 francs when Rosenthal accompanied the Prince in travel.
The American writers David Shenk
and Joshua Wolf Shenk are descendents of Samuel Rosenthal.
Samuel Rosenthal (7 September 1837, Suwałki, then Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
– 12 September 1902, Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Although Neuilly is technically a suburb of Paris, it is immediately adjacent to the city and directly extends it. The area is composed of mostly wealthy, select residential...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) was a Jewish chess master. Chess historian Edward Winter
Edward Winter (chess historian)
Edward Winter is an English journalist, archivist, historian, collector and author about the game of chess. He writes a regular column on that subject, Chess Notes, and is also a regular columnist for ChessBase.-Chess Notes:...
wrote, "He dedicated his life to chess-playing, touring, writing, teaching and analysing. Despite only occasional participation in first-class events, he scored victories over all the leading masters of the time (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...
, Blackburne
Joseph Henry Blackburne
Joseph Henry Blackburne , nicknamed "The Black Death", dominated British chess during the latter part of the 19th century. He learned the game at the relatively late age of 18 but quickly became a strong player and went on to develop a professional chess career that spanned over 50 years...
, Chigorin
Mikhail Chigorin
Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin also was a leading Russian chess player...
, Mackenzie
George Henry Mackenzie
George Henry Mackenzie was a Scottish–American chess master....
, Mason
James Mason (chess player)
James Mason was a famous chess player and writer. He was born in Kilkenny in Ireland. His original name is unknown: he was adopted as a child and only took the name James Mason when he and his family moved to the United States in 1861...
, Paulsen
Louis Paulsen
Louis Paulsen was a German chess player.In 1860s and 1870s, he was among the top five players in the world. He was a younger brother of Wilfried Paulsen....
, 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...
and Zukertort
Johannes Zukertort
Johannes Hermann Zukertort was a leading chess master of German-Polish-Jewish origin. He was one of the leading world players for most of the 1870s and 1880s, and lost to Wilhelm Steinitz in the World Chess Championship 1886, which is generally seen as the first World Chess Championship match, he...
). He also acquired world renown as an unassuming showman who gave large simultaneous displays and blindfold
Blindfold chess
Blindfold chess is a form of chess play wherein the players do not see the positions of the pieces or touch them. This forces players to maintain a mental model of the positions of the pieces...
séances, invariably producing a cluster of glittering moves."
Rosenthal became a law student and moved from Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, during the Polish revolution in 1864, after the failure of the January Uprising
January Uprising
The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...
. He settled in Paris as a chess professional and writer. In 1864, he lost a match to Ignatz von Kolisch (+1 –7 =0) in Paris. Rosenthal won the Café de la Régence
Café de la Régence
The Café de la Régence in Paris was an important European centre of chess in the 18th and 19th centuries. All important chess masters of the time played there.The Café' masters include, but are not limited to:* Paul Morphy...
championship in 1865, 1866, and 1867 in Paris, and became the strongest French chess player. In 1867, he took 9th in the Paris tournament
Paris 1867 chess tournament
World exhibitions became a new phenomenon in the West in the nineteenth century. Scientific and technical progress were shown. Ten World Fairs were organised during the second half of the nineteenth century. Seven times an international chess tournament was part of the event...
(von Kolisch won), and lost a match to Gustav Neumann
Gustav Neumann
Gustav Richard Ludwig Neumann was a German chess master.Neumann was born in Gleiwitz in the Prussian Province of Silesia. In matches he lost to Louis Paulsen at Leipzig 1864, and defeated Celso Golmayo Zúpide , and Simon Winawer at Paris 1867...
(+0 –5 =6) in Paris. In 1869, he lost two matches to Neumann (+1 –3 =1) and (+2 –4 =1). In July 1870, he tied for 8–9th in Baden-Baden. The event was won by 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...
.
Because of the Franco Prussian War of 1870–71, Rosenthal went to London. In 1870/71, he won a match against John Wisker
John Wisker
John Wisker was an English chess player and journalist. By 1870, he was one of the world's ten best chess players, and the second-best English-born player, behind only Joseph Henry Blackburne.Wisker moved to London in 1866 to become a reporter for the City Press and befriended Howard Staunton...
(+3 –2 =4).
In July–August 1873, Rosenthal took 4th, behind 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...
, Joseph Henry Blackburne
Joseph Henry Blackburne
Joseph Henry Blackburne , nicknamed "The Black Death", dominated British chess during the latter part of the 19th century. He learned the game at the relatively late age of 18 but quickly became a strong player and went on to develop a professional chess career that spanned over 50 years...
, and Anderssen, in Vienna. In 1878, he tied for 7-8th in Paris (Johannes Zukertort
Johannes Zukertort
Johannes Hermann Zukertort was a leading chess master of German-Polish-Jewish origin. He was one of the leading world players for most of the 1870s and 1880s, and lost to Wilhelm Steinitz in the World Chess Championship 1886, which is generally seen as the first World Chess Championship match, he...
and Szymon Winawer
Szymon Winawer
Szymon Abramowicz Winawer , born in Warsaw, Poland, was a leading chess player who won the German Chess Championship in 1883...
won). In 1880, he won in Paris the first unofficial French Chess Championship
French Chess Championship
The French Chess Championship is the annual, national chess tournament of France. It was officially first played in 1923after the formation of the Fédération Française des Echecs in 1921. The first unofficial national tournament was played in 1880, in the Café de la Régence, where further edition...
(ahead of Albert Clerc
Albert Clerc
Albert Clerc was a French chess master.-Chess career:He won at Paris 1856, tied for 9-10th at Paris 1878 , took 2nd, behind Samuel Rosenthal, at Paris 1880 , took 4th at Paris 1881 Albert Clerc (January 1830, Besançon – June 1918, Saint-Denis-en-Val) was a French chess master.-Chess career:He won...
and Jules Arnous de Rivière
Jules Arnous de Rivière
Jules Arnous de Rivière was the strongest French chess player from the late 1850s through the late 1870s. He is best known today for playing many games with Paul Morphy when the American champion visited Paris in 1858 and 1863.Born in Nantes to a French father and an English mother as...
). In 1880, he lost a match against Zukertort (+1 –7 =11) in London. In 1883, he took 8th in London (Zukertort won). In 1887, he tied for 5–7th in Frankfurt am Main (5th DSB–Congress, Hauptturnier, elim.).
His results were affected by his journalistic activities and bad health.
From 1885 to 1902, he edited a chess column for the Le Monde Illustré, and also wrote for La Strategie, La Vie Moderne, and other French newspapers.
In 1898, he successfully sued one of his chess students, Prince Balaschoff, when his contract was terminated. The First Chamber of the Civil Tribunal (première chambre civile) at Paris awarded Rosenthal 15,000 francs. The Prince had been paying Rosenthal 500 francs a month, and 1,000 francs when Rosenthal accompanied the Prince in travel.
The American writers David Shenk
David Shenk
David Shenk is an American writer, lecturer, and filmmaker. He is author of six books, including The Genius in All of Us , Data Smog , The Forgetting , and The Immortal Game , and has contributed to National Geographic, Slate, The New York Times, Gourmet, Harper's, Wired, The New Yorker, The New...
and Joshua Wolf Shenk are descendents of Samuel Rosenthal.
Notable chess games
- Cecil De Vere vs Samuel Rosenthal, Paris 1867, English Opening, King's English Variation, A20, 0-1
- Adolf Anderssen vs Samuel Rosenthal, Baden–Baden 1870, Italian Game, Evans Gambit, C51, 0-1
- Joseph Henry Blackburne vs Samuel Rosenthal, Queen's Gambit Accepted, Traditional System, Vienna 1873, D37, 0-1
- Samuel Rosenthal vs Henry Bird, Paris 1878, French Defense, C00, 1-0
- Wilhelm Steinitz vs Samuel Rosenthal, London 1883, Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense, C65, 0-1
- Szymon Winawer vs Samuel Rosenthal, London 1883, Bishop's Opening, Boi Variation, C23, 0-1