In recent years there has been a revival of interest in the "old masters". Those who study the subject intensively, as Frank Hoffmeister does in his work "Chess Theory from Stamma to Steinitz, 1735-1894", will find that the ideas of the "old ones" are surprisingly young. Review and interview with the author.
Recently, the Emanuel Lasker Society and the Excelsior Verlag published the third and final volume of their huge biography of Emanuel Lasker, mathematician, philosopher, writer, and World Champion from 1894 to 1921. Richard Forster, Michael Negele and Raj Tischbierek edited the three volumes. Like its predecessors, the third sheds light on many aspects of Lasker's personality and his wide ranging intellectual interests, and it is a beautiful, carefully designed book well worth reading.
Today, the German chess historian Michael Negele celebrates his 65th birthday! Negele published widely about a variety of topics but his main focus was and is the life and work of Emanuel Lasker, and he was one of the driving forces in editing an extensive three-volume biography about the German World Champion. | Photos: German Chess Federation
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As the table shows, Alekhine did not suffer a single loss, whereas Schmidt lost two games: one against Georg Kieninger and one against Alekhine. The two later tournament winners, Schmidt and Alekhine, met each other in the fourth round and in this game Schmidt had what he later described as his most unforgettable chess experience . According to Schmidt, Alekhine in this game moved a rook and just took the move back . (See Eva Regina Magacs, Michael Negele,
Paul Felix Schmidt: A Winning Formula, Exzelsior Verlag, Edition Randstein 2017, p. 106).
What happened?
Alekhine shared his version of the events in this game with Francesco Lupi, who then retold Alekhine s tales to the chess public in the British magazine CHESS. Alekhine probably overlooked the simple mate after 31.Rb8+ because he had drunk too much cognac during the game. In his account of the incident Alekhine more or less openly admits that he was drunk during the game, but he provides a different explanation fo