Nardus was born in Utrecht as the son of the antiquities dealer. In 1889 he went to Argentina looking for gold and in 1894 he settled in the United States as an art dealer. Then around the turn of the century he returned to Europe, spending most of his time in France.
During that time he had developed some skills as a painter. He undertook numerous journeys to Spain, Egypt, Algeria and later settled in Tunisia.
While living in the US, Nardus became a close friend of Frank Marshall and and on several occasions he invited Marshall to visit him and give exhibitions in Africa and Europe.
In Europe, Nardus and David Janowsky were friends. When Janowsky defeated Marshall in 1908 it was under the patronage of Nardus. Nardus also put up the money for a Lasker-Janowsky world championship match, but before he did so, a test match was agreed to between the two players. That match took place in 1909 between the 12th and 21st May in Nardus' villa in Suresnes near Paris, but was played over only four games and ended 2-2. When the match ended in a draw the prize money was shared.
Then in 1909 a match of ten games, for which Nardus made a substantial contribution towards the prize fund. The match was played from 18th October till 10th November in the Grand Cercle on the Boulevard Montmartre. There has been considerable confusion about the status of this match, also played in Paris.
Several sources say the title was at stake. Lasker while others say it was the swcond match in 1910. Chess historian Edward Winter has argued that this match was not described in any of the contemporary chess magazines as a match for the World Championship.
In the New York Evening Post of the 23rd October it was even specifically pointed out that the match between Lasker and Janowski was not a match for the World Championship but that it served as preparation for the forthcoming match between Lasker and Schlechter. One Of the reasons for the heavy defeat was moreover that Janowski kept on playing for a win in some clearly drawn positions.
The Wednesday August 19, 1914 issue of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran an interesting article on Nardus and Marshall. It stated that Marshall’s wife had received a letter and cable from him; Marshall had been playing in Mannheim, which was stopped by the war.
The letter, which was the first to reach her in a month, was little more than hasty note in which Marshall stated he had finally arrived in Amsterdam and added, "Everyone saves himself.”
He wrote that after arriving in Amsterdam he had been able to get a berth in steerage on the ship New Amsterdam which by the time Mrs. Marshall got the letter, had already arrived in New York on Monday. But, Marshall canceled it at the last moment at the request of Nardus’ secretary who was in Amsterdam. Instead Marshall took a boat to London and then crossed to France. On a picture postcard he sent to his father, Marshall said he had seen “shooting a-plenty.”
The cable message announced that he had arrived safely in Parampe, near St. Malo, France where he was the guest Nardus and he would remain there until he had the opportunity to sail for home.
In a book on art history Dutch author Peter van Hooren claimed that Nardus was a swindler and forger. van Hooren wrote that Nardus, who was sometimes assisted by a Belgian companion named Michel van Gelder managed to sell countless pieces to the little experienced collectors in the United States, some of which were of excellent quality, others were second-rate or dubious an some were fake. Artist’s names were faked and provenances were updated or made up.
Nardus was probably a non-master and very few of his games have survived. However, the casual game below which was played in New York against Otto Roething is amusing.
Roething (December 21, 1865 - August 6, 1915, 49 years old) was born in Germany and died in New York City.A strong amateur, he was the 1903 New York State champion and 1909 Manhattan Chess Club champion. Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2536 in 1900. According to ZanChess, Roething’s obituary states that while living in Germany he was a trapeze artist in a German circus. His career was cut short by a serious accident, which compelled his retirement.
Otto Roething - Leo Nardus
Result: 0-1
Site: New York
Date: 1900.05.06
Bird's Opening
[...] 1.f4 d5 2.e3 ♗f5 3.♘f3 f6 This move has little to recommend.
3...e6 Lead to some interesting play in Bricard,E (2489)-Prie,E (2516)/Pau FRA 2012 4.g3 h5 5.d3 h4 6.♘xh4 ♖xh4 7.gxh4 ♕xh4 with about equal chances.
4.b3
4.♘d4 offers white better chances of gaining an advantage. 4...♘h6 (4...♗d7 is bad. 5.♕h5 g6 6.♕xd5) 5.♘xf5 ♘xf5 6.c4 and white stands well.
4...♕d6 5.♗b2 ♘c6 6.♗b5 O-O-O 7.O-O h6 White could have gotten the advantage after this. Better was 7...a6 and ...Nh6. 8.d4
8.♗a3 Seizes the initiative. 8...♕e6 9.c4 dxc4 10.♗xc4 ♕d7 11.b4 with good prospects of attacking black's K.
8...♘b4 9.♘a3 g5 10.c4 gxf4 Better was 10...Nd3 equalizing. After this white gets a strong attack. 11.c5 ♕e6 12.exf4 ♘c6 Black is far from completing his development and this move only wastes more time. 13...Qe3+ hoping to exchange some pieces would ease his defense. 13.♖e1 ♗e4 Safer was 13...Qd7 14.♘d2
14.♘c4 Presents a greater challenge to black. 14...a6 (14...dxc4 is bad on account of 15.♘d2 f5 16.♘xe4 fxe4 17.d5) 15.♗xc6 ♕xc6 16.♘a5 with only a slight advantage.
14...f5 15.♘f3 ♘f6 16.♗xc6 bxc6 Not really bad, but on principle he should have recaptured with the Q. 17.♘e5 ♘d7 18.♕e2 ♘xe5 19.♕a6 (19.fxe5 would lose after 19...♖g8 20.g3 f4)
19.dxe5 is also acceptable as after 19...♖g8 20.♕a6 ♔d7 can can choose between 21.Rxe4, 21.Re2 and 21.g3 all of which results in equality.
19...♔d7 20.dxe5 Not 20.fxe5? and black continues as above. 20...♖a8 Defending the the a-Pawn should have been a losing blunder. The correct move was still 20...Rg8 and white's replies are still as in the in the previous notes. 21.b4 White fails to take advantage of the opportunity black's last move presented him.
21.♖xe4 And the R cannot be taken... 21...fxe4 22.♘c2 ♔e8 (22...♖g8 23.♘d4 ♕g6 24.e6 ♔d8 25.g3 h5 26.♕xc6 mate is unavoidable.) 23.f5 ♕xf5 24.♕xc6 ♔f7 25.♖f1 wins
21...♖g8 22.g3 h5 Black's intention of playing...h4 is good, but he needed to play ...Rg6 23.b5
23.♖xe4 was much better. 23...fxe4 24.♘c2 ♕h3 25.♘d4 and the threat of e6+ cannot be met in any satisfactory way. This why the best chance was to have his R on g6 which would have made sacrificing it for a N and P possible,
23...♗h6 24.bxc6 A serious mistake that should have allowed black a winning K-side attack.
24.♖xe4 dxe4 (24...fxe4??25.f5 ♔e8 26.fxe6 wins ) 25.bxc6 with an unclear position.
24...♔d8 Missing his chance to secure an advantage. (24...♕xc6 25.♕xc6 ♔xc6 with a very promising position.) 25.♘b5 ♗xf4 26.♘xc7 ♔xc7 This natural recapture loses outright.
26...♖xg3 27.hxg3 ♕g8 and both sides have chances in this unclear position.
27.♕b7 After this the game is over, but there is a nice finish. 27...♔d8 28.♕xa8 ♕c8 29.♕xa7 h4 30.♖xe4 A nice finishing touch. 30...fxe4 (30...dxe4 31.♖d1 ♔e8 32.♕d7 is fatal for black.) 31.♖f1 ♗e3 Here is a little twist of fate. After the correct 32.Kg2 white is winning rather easily. 32.♔h1 This is a gross blunder that allows black to equalize. (32.♔g2 hxg3 33.hxg3 ♕xc6 34.♕b8 ♕c8 35.♕b6 ♕c7 36.♕e6 and wins) 32...hxg3 And white resigned, but he shouldn't have.
32...hxg3 33.c7 This is the only saving move. 33...♕xc7 34.♕a8 ♕c8 35.♕a5 ♔d7 36.♕b5 and white has a perpetual check as the black K cannot escape via e6... 36...♔d8
36...♔e6 37.♕b6 ♔d7 38.e6 ♔e8 39.hxg3 ♗xc5 (39...♖xg3 40.♕b5 ♔d8 41.♖f8 mates next move.) 40.♕b5 ♔d8 41.♗c3 ♕xe6 42.♗a5 wins.
37.♕a5 ♔d7 38.♕b5Powered by Aquarium
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