German master Kurt Richter (1900-1969) made significant contributions to the chess world as a player, and as an editor and author. Unassuming in real life, Richter was a fearsome opponent who expressed himself mainly through his over-the-board results, as well as through his chess journalism and literary output. He was responsible for several innovative openings, some of which gained renewed status in later years.
This overview of his life and games sheds light on a player who should be better known, with much never-before-seen material. Examples of his entertaining writings on chess are included, some featuring his fictitious student opponent, Dr. Zabel. A wide selection of games illustrates the surprising combinations and brilliant style of play that earned him the title "The Executioner of Berlin."
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"A wonderful biography.... The secret of a great biography is not only to describe the subject but also the era in which he lived. ...a wealth of detail.... I was more and more intrigued with every page I read. ...A treasure trove of games and a wonderful overview of the German chess scene of this period! 5 shining stars!"-New in Chess; "this sumptuous book has given me the taste for his approach to chess...heartily recommend...it's very much a labour of love"-Chess; "It's evident that McGowan has left no stone unturned in piecing together Richter's story. This is a superlative work." -US Chess Federation; "fantastic...a phenomenal effort in unearthing an incredible amount of interesting material and exciting attacking games...all those with an interest in chess history will support this magnificent work which has been so thoroughly researched, detailed and referenced...many hours' worth of absorbing reading."-American Chess Magazine; "a model of scholarship...this is a book you will certainly want to add to your reading list."-The Chess Improver; "wonderful made McFarland Book.... The research of this book done by the author is more than impressive"-Chessbooks.nl; "full of brilliant games, deeply annotated...a fascinating reconstruction of Kurt Richter's life...numerous, often truly outstanding, photos of chess masters."-Kingpin Chess Magazine; "a highly readable chess biography...what the book does incredibly well is relate Richter's career to the context of the times and, indeed, recreate the ambience of those often extraordinary years. It is lavishly illustrated with a treasure trove of contemporary photos.... The extensive background material is detailed and vivid.... The sheer amount of material - much of it original - which Alan has processed throughout the work is phenomenal...timeless..a fabulous biography...it is a pleasure to be able to immerse oneself in a work to which the author has devoted four decades of his life...recommend...highly...superb"-Chess Scotland; "A model of what a game collection and biography should be. This beautifully produced oversize red hardback with library binding covers everything related to the life of Kurt Richter. The close to 500 well-annotated games in this book feature a wealth of aggressive chess with beautiful combinations and sharp attacks throughout. The games are not only reason to buy this book. McGowan, who spent three decades researching and writing this work in what was clearly a labor of love, has uncovered a great deal of previously unknown material pertaining to not only Richter but his contemporaries. McFarland has published many outstanding books the past three-plus decades and Kurt Richter: A Chess Biography with 499 Games ranks right up there with the best. This is a wonderful book...highly recommended"-IM John Donaldson; "The book highlights not only Richter's career, but also the German chess culture and the effect that the two world wars had on his play. A well-researched monograph that does a nice job of introducing the reader to all aspects of [Richter's] life, especially those before the Second World War"-Mind's Eye Press; "I haven't had a more compelling chess book in my hand in a long time!"-Berlin Chess History
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Für Beruf und Forschung
Interest Age: From 18 years
Produkt-Hinweis
Illustrationen
93 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, indexes
Maße
Höhe: 279 mm
Breite: 216 mm
Dicke: 20 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-4766-6906-9 (9781476669069)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Alan McGowan has been associated with Cathcart Chess Club in Glasgow, Scotland and the Kitchener-Waterloo Chess Club in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. He has helped edit Scottish Chess and Chess Canada Echecs and is the historian for Chess Scotland. He lives in Waterloo, Ontario.
Table of Contents
?Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
? Prologue. 1900-1918
The 1914-1918 War and Its Aftermath
First Chess Club: -Springer-Berlin
? Part 1. 1919-1924 Venturing Forth
1919
1920
Berlin 1920-German Chess Federation Congress
1921
Berlin Championship 1921
Maroczy and Tartakower
Published Chess Problems
Blitz Tournament and Consultation Game
1922
Berlin Championship 1922-First Tournament Success
Club Events
Bad Oeynhausen 1922-22nd Congress of the German Chess Federation
1923
Berlin Championship 1923
1st Congress of the Brandenburg Chess Association
Frankfurt 1923
Winners' Group
1924
Berlin Championship 1924
New Chess Periodical
Winter Tournament of the Schachverein 1876
? Part 2. 1925-1929 Signs of Progress
1925
Jaegerklause Tournament 1925
Berlin Championship 1925
1926
Berlin Championship 1926
A Change of Clubs
Berlin Club Championship 1926
Scharfrichter: The Executioner of Berlin
1927
Berlin Championship 1927
Berlin 1927-2nd Congress of the German Chess Association
Berlin Team Championship 1927-28
Employment
1928
First Editorial Position
Freie Schachvereinigung 1928
Gaining the Master Title
Wiesbaden 1928
No Respect for the Law
Berlin-Stockholm Match 1928
First International Masters' Tournament
Blitz Tournaments
Berlin Club Championship 1928-29
1929
Copenhagen-Berlin Match 1929
Berlin Chess Cafes
Berlin Championship 1929
Bremen Chess Promotion
German Championship-Duisburg 1929
? Part 3. 1930-1932 Making His Mark
1930
Wilmersdorf Jubilee 1930
Berlin, Four Masters Tournament 1930
Naming Rights ... and Wrongs
Berlin Championship 1930
Swinemuende 1930
Hamburg Olympiad 1930
Berlin Club Championship 1930-31
Berliner Schachgesellschaft Championship 1930
Yearbook-Berliner Schachfuehrer
1931
Then He Took Berlin: Stoltz of Sweden
Aleister Crowley in Berlin
German Championship-Swinemuende 1931
Prague Olympiad 1931
Bled 1931: Richter's Nonappearance
Cottbus to Berlin
Berliner Schachgesellschaft Championship 1931-32
Here Be No Dragons
1932
Berliner Schachgesellschaft Winter Tournament
Schachverein 1876 Club Championship
Kiel 1932
Richter's Opinion about Draws
Hamburg, Four Masters Match-Tournament 1932
Berlin Championship 1932
Swinemuende 1932
Opening Innovation
Stargard 1932
Bruno Moritz
Berlin-Hamburg Telephone Match 1932
Berliner Schachgesellschaft Championship 1932-33
Bogoljubow Consultation Game and Interview
? Part 4. 1933-1935 Adapting to Change
1933
"Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation"
Berlin Championship 1933
Reorganization of German Chess
Bad Aachen 1933
Germany and FIDE
Swinemuende 1933
Bad Pyrmont 1933
Bad Salzbrunn 1933
1934
Promoting Chess
Berlin (West District) Championship 1934
Physician Heal Thyself: Richter and "Dr. Zabel"
New Chess Pieces (Schachfiguren Bundesform)
Bad Niendorf 1934
Drawing Conclusions
German Team Championship 1934
"Dr. Zabel" Consults Again
En Passant: Deaths
1935
Berlin Master Tournament 1935
Move to Karlshorst
Olympiad Training
Berlin Team Tour 1935
Swinemuende 1935
German Champion-Bad Aachen 1935
Berthold Koch
Bad Nauheim 1935
Losing Beautifully: A Combinational Masterpiece
Zoppot 1935
? Part 5. 1936-1939 At His Creative Best
1936
German Team Championship 1935-36
Berlin Championship 1936
Opening Ideas
Publication of Kombinationen
Recuperation
Swinemuende 1936
Podebrady 1936
Munich 1936-The Unofficial Olympiad
1937
Berlin Championship 1937
Berliner Schachgesellschaft Jubilee Tournament 1937
Berlin-Hamburg Telephone Match 1937
Bad Elster 1937
Bad Saarow 1937
Tournament Losses
German Championship 1937
A Forced Move
Berlin 1937 (Christmas)
En Passant: Deaths
1938
Berlin Club Championship 1938
Germany-Austria Friendship Tournament 1938
An Opening Innovation
Berlin Championship 1938
Germany-Scandinavia Match 1938
Bad Harzburg 1938
Polishing the Polish
German Championship 1938
En Passant: Deaths
1939
Berlin Club Championship 1939
Best Games
Germany-Hungary Match 1939
Stuttgart 1939
German Club Championship-Stuttgart 1939
Bad Oeynhausen 1939
Olympiad and War
Correspondence Chess
? Part 6. 1940-1945 The War Years
1940
Berlin Club Championship 1940
Schachgesellschaft Club Championship 1940
Berlin-Karlsbad Match 1940
Schachgesellschaft Training Tournament 1940
Schlage Memorial Tournament, Berlin 1940
Chess for the Military
German Championship-Bad Oeynhausen 1940
Cracow-Krynica-Warsaw 1940
Krynica
Warsaw
1941
Schachgesellschaft Club Championship 1941
Berlin Club Championship 1941
Berlin Championship 1941
German Championship-Bad Oeynhausen 1941
Munich 1941
1942
Drafted
Publishing Success
Munich 1942
Pressing Problems
Publish and Be Praised
1943-1944
A Deteriorating Situation
1945
Fall of Berlin
Prisoner of War
? Part 7. 1946-1949 Rebuilding
1946-1947
Starting Over
Chess Life
Soviet Military Administration
Chess Periodicals
Looking for Problems
Surfacing Slowly
Publishing Success
1948
Berlin Championship 1948
Chess Journalism
Radio
1949
Four Cities -Match-Tournament 1949
Berlin Championship 1949
German Championship 1949
A New Phase
Another Visit from the Doctor
Berlin-East Germany Match
? Part 8. 1950-1959 The Two Germanys
1950
Berlin Team Championship 1950
Berlin Championship 1950
A New Generation
International Affairs
Local Matters
Berlin-East Germany Match
1951
Berlin Championship 1951
Berlin-East Germany Match
Public Relations
1952
Berlin Championship 1952
Short Games, Long Praise
Consecutive Losses
1953
A New Phase
"My Opinion on the Chess Problem"
East Berlin-West Berlin Match
1954-1956
1957
Berlin-Hamburg Match 1957
Berlin Championship 1957
More of Richter's Opinions
1958
Munich Olympiad 1958: Richter Honored
1959
? Part 9. 1960-1969 The Final Years
Memories of 50 Years in Chess
Endgame Preparation
In Memoriam
Last Words and Recommended Reading
Richter's Burial Plot
Appendices
? Appendix A: Additional Games
? Appendix B: Tournament and Match Results
Berlin Championship
German Championship
Others
Matches-Team and Individual
? Appendix C: Richter's Openings with White
Queen's Pawn: Richter's Opening
Sicilian Defense: -Richter-Rauzer Variation
The Positional Approach
And Then Along Came Rauzer
French Defense
Winawer Variation: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4
Rubinstein Variation: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4
Burn Variation: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4
McCutcheon Variation: 4. ... Bb4
Anderssen-Richter: 4. ... Be7 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. e5 Be7 7. Qg4
Ruy Lopez
Ruy Lopez: Open Variation
Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense Deferred
? Appendix D: Richter's Openings with Black
Budapest Defense
Budapest Gambit: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ne4
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ne4 4. various
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ne4 4. Nf3 Nc6
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ne4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 Nc5
Polish Defense: 1. d4 b5 and 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b5
1. d4 b5
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b5
Scandinavian Defense: 1. e4 d5
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4...
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Opponents
Index of Annotators
Index of Openings-Traditional Names
Index of Openings-ECO Codes
General Index
